Xenospore
Prevent the Xenospore from spreading!
- Destroy tiles to isolate populated areas from the Xenospore organism.
- Cleanse infected populated areas before they are consumed.
- Utilize the array of in-game technologies to assist you.
- Keep the Xenospore away from volatile facilities that cause it to explode or mutate.
Links & Reviews
"Replayable, deceptively challenging, and deeply satisfying—everything a great puzzle game should be."
- The Gamer
"There’s a real satisfaction to keeping the corruption at bay. Highly recommended."
- Free Game Planet
"It has a wonderful dark atmosphere to it and the gameplay really does suck you right in."
- Gaming on Linux, #2
"Gorgeous sprite art... Challenging difficulty curve."
- Digitally Downloaded
"A short indie puzzle game with a tactical twist..."
- 5MG
Update 1.1 (Levels 26-40)
- Quick Actions, fast turns, new mechanics and features.
- Threats System - select tiles to see what they threaten and what theatens them.
- 15 new levels - from levels 26 to 40. Navigate to the new levels by pressing Menu -> Levels.
- 12 new tiles with new features and abilities.
- Graphical Improvements.
- Safe Islands are grayed out.
- More options, major QoL improvements, some bug fixes.
Gameplay & Updates
- Gameplay video here. Update 1.1 Video here
- Update 1.1 content begins at level 26. I left the 'old' levels as is.
- Solutions to pre-update 1.1 levels (1-25, with time stamps) here.
- If you liked the game, you could follow me on Twitter, Mastodon and Itch for updates.
Controls
- Mouse / Touch: click tiles to select them, then click destroy or cleanse.
- Mouse: hover over tiles then right click to instantly destroy or cleanse them.
- Mouse: hover or select a tile to see its information.
- Touch: select a tile to see its information.
- Select tiles to highlight the Xenospore tiles that threaten them, and vice versa.
- Hotkeys:
- "R" - Restart
- Spacebar / Enter - Destroy / Cleanse (depends on selection)
- "ESC" - Menu
- "F11" / "Alt" + "Enter" - Full screen
- Press menu to navigate between levels & change audio and visual settings.
- Game autosaves.
More info
- Soundtrack "Crossing Horizon" by SoundFlakes.
- SharedArrayBuffer is enabled so there may be issues with embeds in the page. If you're posting a video (which is awesome!) please add a link to the video in the comment.
- If the game runs slowly on the browser version, make sure hardware acceleration is not disabled in the browser's settings.
If you enjoyed the game, please consider rating it (star icon to the top-right), it means a lot to me. If you have any feedback, feel free to let me know in the comments.
Thank you for playing, rating, commenting or supporting the game!
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Xenospore Update 1.1 Released!Mar 29, 2023
- Xenospore Update 1.1 TrailerMar 14, 2023
- Xenospore Devlog #4 - New Levels, QoL, New Cleanser TileFeb 12, 2023
- Update on the Upcoming Update: Polishing, Fast Turns, Tile Highlights and more...Nov 13, 2022
- Update getting closer. Added more features!Aug 29, 2022
- Working on a new content and QoL updateJul 10, 2022
- Xenospore Published!Jun 02, 2022
Comments
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I beat level 40. A very chilling experience.
Awesome! Level 40 is a beast. Let me know if you have any feedback 💪
Eyy, thank you, and congrats on making a badass game ^^ It's not a new theme or genre but this still feels really fresh and emotionally affecting.
It took me a couple tries to understand the severity of the explosion mechanic, but honestly I didn't struggle with lvl 40 (i took the easy way out and didn't get perfect). This game strikes me as very easy if you're trying to pass levels, and very hard if you're trying to 100%. I gave up on perfect levels pretty early on, although it feels bad to let people die. I always did my best, but it was pretty hard. I'm not a big puzzle guy so take that with a grain of salt. I actually wonder... Is it possible to beat the game with no deaths? Or are there impossible rescues scattered around?
Oh yeah, and if you're looking for constructive criticism, I think it would be nice if the game explains the mechanic of: infected tiles building up to 4 levels of bubbles, and then exploding on the next turn into an impossible-to-destroy infection-source tile, damaging nearby structures. The sudden explosion confused me throughout gameplay, where my people suddenly died and I struggled to figure out what happened. I think I only figured it out in the last 5 or so puzzles. Also, I'm still not sure what some of the buildings actually do? Like the purifier and the amplifier.
Everything else, like the art direction, the music, the length of the game, the writing, the ui, and the game engine are basically perfect, nothing to note there :3
I hope you enjoyed making this and I hope you enjoy making more games in the future!
Thanks for the detailed feedback and for the kind words! 🤩
The "not-having-to-save-all-houses" was a "choose your own difficulty via gameplay" kind of solution, although I would've loved if there was a progression system that could've incentivized you to save everything.
I totally understand the need to improve the learning curve and how key elements are explained (or rather not explained). It's something I did improve a bit with the latest update but it's still not as clear as I prefer it to be. For now, I've added your feedback to the list and will take it into account for possible future updates!
A bit late because you already beat the game, but:
- The Purifier cures everything around it, giving you the option to cure several types of tiles at the same turn (as well as tiles that cannot normally be cured).
- The amplifier makes every building around it protected (which means it cannot be infected, unless spore arms emerge, then it will be destroyed), at the cost of a turn. There can only be one activated at a time.
- And it's absolutely possible to perfectly beat all of the levels, yeah.
I had a blast making this game and the update, although it was a long and difficult journey that took way more time than I expected, but there are no regrets! I learned a lot, I love this creation and I love seeing how other people enjoy the game, so I'm very grateful and happy I managed to finish this game and ship it, dents and all.
Cheers!
Thanks for the detailed response! :D It's a fascinating game, and now armed with this knowledge, I might be able to swing back around and give 100% a try sometime :3
Cheers! <3
Bug Report: Level 40 fails to end after the spores are successfully isolated. Because the research facility is spawning spores every turn.
Repeatedly cleansing the research facility as the final infected tile did not solve the problem.
Thanks for the report, but this is not a bug - the Research Facility has the tag *Always Infected*, therefore the only way to deal with it is to completely separate it from everything else. Cleansing it will only delay the inevitable while also wasting that precious turn - this is the challenge of this level.
great simple concept
Thank you! Let me know if you have any feedback :D
Hello ! Wonderful work !
It would be so great if there were more levels (user made levels ?)
Hi, thanks! I plan to add more levels to the game from time to time. I'll think about making a level editor in the future.
By the way, if you have anymore feedback or suggestions for the game, I'd love to hear it! Feel free to add it here or contact me on Twitter / Mastodon (links in my bio).
I might have one about the buildings flavor texts : maybe there could be one when inocculated, and the second one (just before loosing them) could be a follow up. Adding a little bit story telling to it.
(I used a similar technic in a game I made https://rature.itch.io/jiayou-memovirus . In that exemple, the text tell a part of the story, and depend on the level. But it could be random too...).
Also, these texts could depend on the building's nature.
Currently the only text that appears is when a house tile will be destroyed on the next turn, and that doesn't always happen (to avoid too many texts). The houses always blink when near max, though.
Good suggestion with having more texts and telling a story, I'll think about this. Will check out your game and the example too!
Thanks :)
Great game!! I like the design and the gameplay :D Good job doing it!!
Also I have some feedback to improve the game, so if you’re interested to hear it, where I can send it to you?
Thank you! You can comment the feedback here or dm me via Twitter or Mastodon if you prefer.
You’re welcome!! Okay, I understand, so I will DM you on Twitter better
Really cool game! Love the graphics. Reminds me a lot of "Wildfire Swap"
Thank you! And that looks like a neat game :)
Let me know if you have any suggestions or feedback for the game
is this going to be ported to android?
I've made the game with android in mind so it already runs on android, actually it's installed on my phone right now :O
So yeah, I hope to release it on android eventually! But it might take a while. Thanks for playing!
I'd love an android port too !
Can you help me :
Hey, so for technical reasons the web version does not work on Firefox, this will be fixed in the future. What browser are you on?
Chrome version 76.0.3809.136 (Official Build) (64-bit) to be exact. The most recent one on windows and some other os(s) is 102.0.5005.63
Thanks for letting me know. I will look into this, but I suspect I already know what's going on. If I am correct, then this is the same issue that will be will be fixed in the near future, only it also applies to older versions of chrome. Sorry T_T
The game is also available for download on windows and linux (mac coming soon), hope you will still give it a try! If there are any other issues or you can't install for some reason let me know!
I am curious, what OS are you running?
turns out the game runs well with edge, I just finished it
Thank you for letting me know. I've edited the comment :) Glad to hear you finished the game, feel free to share your thoughts
Chrome OS on a 2015 made chromebook. (I might try on another pc)
This is such a fun puzzle game even if im not the best 😓
Thanks! I gotta admit that balancing the difficulty of this game was a challenge in itself 😅 Glad you enjoyed playing though!
Even though it's a short game, I thought it was amazing. Strangely it reminded me of Sim City, I don't know why. The retro look is spectacular. Congratulations on your game.
Thank you!! I didn't think of that but I can see the resemblence. I will definitely watch the vid, it'll be interesting and insightful to see how you played. I might add more content in the future :)
Omgggggggg best game everrr(:::
lol thanks XD
I. LOVE. This!
The mechanics are beautifully simple - so simple that it only took me a couple of seconds of clicking around to work out the basic premise - but the emergence from that is amazing. This is so well-done, it really is.
Thank you! :D
Incredible stuff!
THANKS! ^^
this is such a good game when people can play and apply this in real life about isolating people out of some infected area like the covid-19 we have been through. Despite there being a problem in this game. you need to make the game a bit harder like the requirement that how many houses the players must keep so the player can make some sacrifices but have to balance between destroying a house and isolating houses.
But by the way, good game, I'm looking forward some good updates.
Thanks for the input! I'm adding that to the feedback list. ^_^
about difficulty
it's also a nice part that you can go to the next level with only one house saved, just in case you get frustrated by the current level
Still I kept retrying until i saved all the houses on most of the levels
ace!
love the concept, look and atmosphere of this. played a few rounds and will definately return for more.
Thank you!